A wisp of smoke on a cloudless early August morning was one of the first indications that a wildfire had started in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of northern New Mexico. Lightning struck near the village of Cundiyó, and a blaze quickly erupted in the drought-stricken canyons surrounding the Río Frijoles. Both this 13-mile stream and the Río en Medio descend from the Sangres and flow into Santa Cruz Lake, a reservoir that releases their water into the Santa Cruz River, which is then joined by another tributary, the Río Quemado. Like the spurs of a railway, some 30 hand-dug channels, or acequias, deliver that water — collectively owned by around 3,000 parciantes or members — to the small family farms of several historic communities. … But with more than half of the Río Frijoles in the direct path of the fire, the health of the watershed — and the future of the area’s irrigation — were at risk.